Packaging tray



Oct. 21, 1958 J. c. ROCHE ETAL 2,857,089

PACKAGING TRAY Filed March i7, 1955 21293 26. 164259 www' mwLM/@J United States Patent C) PACKAGING TRAY John C. Roche, Park Ridge, and John F. Castner, Cicero, Ill., assignors to Chicago Carton Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application March 17, 1955., Serial No. 494,990 y 2 Claims. (ci. 229-30) This invention relates to a packaging tray, and more particularly to a packaging tray in which there are provided cells for receiving and holding charges of merchandise in separated relation to each other. Trays made according to this'invention may be employed for packaging various kinds of material and, as an example, a tray embodying the invention will hereinafter be described in a form in which it is particularly suited to the packaging of bakery products such as cookies, cupcakes, biscuits and the like. v

The main objects of the invention are to provide a tray of the character indicated which may be made in large quantities at high speed and at low cost; to provide such a tray which may be produced with a minimum of waste material; to provide such a tray which is well adapted for use in producing packaging in which the merchandise is readily visible for inspection without opening the package; and in general, it is the object of the invention to provide an improved tray of the character indicated.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by ,reference to the following specification in which there is described a tray embodying a selected form of the invention. l

A drawing illustrating said selected form of the invention is appended, in which:

Figure l is a perspective illustration of the tray;

Figure 2 is a plan view of a blank from which one element of the tray is formed; and

Figure 3 is a plan view of another element of the tray.

The tray as shown in Figure 1 is formed of paper board selected of such weight as to provide the desired degree of strength and stiffness. In one embodiment in which the bottom of the tray measures about 71/2 inches by 51/2 inches, the board stock has a thickness in the neighborhood of .015 inch. This thickness is not critical and is mentioned merely by way of example.

The tray comprises a bottom wall 1, narrow side walls or flanges 2 which extend upwardly from opposite side edges of the bottom wall, and an end wall 3 which extends upwardly from one end of the bottom wall. If desired, the other end of the bottom wall may also be provided with an end wall such as the wall 3 as indicated in broken lines at 3a or with a narrow upwardly extending ange similar to the side flanges 2. Transverse partitions 4 extend upwardly from the bottom wall 1 and cooperate with a longitudinal divider member 5 to divide the tray into cells. In this instance, the tray is divided into six cells for respectively receiving charges of merchandise such as indicated in broken lines at 6, these charges of material being separated from each other by the divider and partitions which accordingly constitute merchandise separating elements.

The side flange 2 and the end wall 3 (or end walls if provided at both ends) are integral with the bottom 1 and are foldably connected thereto. The partitions 4 are also integral with and foldably connected to the bottom 1 along the bottom edges of said partitions. is, in this example, a separate element.

The main body of the tray comprising the bottom 1, the side anges 2, the end wall 3, and the partitions 4, are formed from a one-piece blank 7, the details of which are shown in Figure 2. As there shown, the blank is initially formed as an unfoldedat member having any suitable form of fold lines indicated at 8 along which the side anges 2 and end wall 3 may be folded upwardly relative to the bottom panel 1.

The partitions 4 are cut out of the bottom panel and to that end, said bottom panel is provided with slits designated 9 which outline the ends and top edges of the respective partitions, and with suitable fold lines 10vby which the partition panels are foldably connected to the bottom panel 1. As shown, the slits kwhich define the ends of the partition panels are spaced inwardly from the fold lines 8 which define the side edges of the bottom panel so that there is continuity of bottom panel material from end to end of the blank.

Opposite marginal portions of the partition panels 4 which are to become the top and bottom margins of the partitions are formed in part by re-entrant, more or less U-shaped, slit lines 11, 11, there being a pair of such re-entrant formations in each of said partition margins. When the partitions are folded upwardly out of the bottom panel l, holes or openings 12 will be left in the bottom panel and the projections or ears 13` which result from said re-entrant U-shaped slits 11 will, in effect, project into said openings so as to provide support for merchandise positioned in the tray in overlyingV relation to the bottom area which contains said openings.

The divider 5 is a simple flat strip as shown in Figure 3 and it is provided with a pair of slits 14 which are adapted to cooperate with slits 15 in the partitions 4 to permit assembly of the dividerand partitions in the intersecting cell forming relationship shown in Figure l'. These slits The divider 5 14 and 15 are preferably provided with flaring mouths or funnel-like entrances 16 and 17 which more or less guide the divider and partitions into the illustrated assembled relationship and make it quite easy to assemble the parts.

When the tray is filled with merchandise it may be inserted into a bag or similar container made of transparent material or having at least transparent portions which will overlie the top and opposite sides of the filled tray. Such insertion is normally effected in the direction of the length of the tray, i. e., endwise with the end wall 3 at the advancing or leading end of the tray. By providing the end wall 3, the walls of the container or bag are effectively distended without bearing against the merchandise and the provision of said end wall also serves to prevent the merchandise in the adjacent end cells of the tray from sliding off the tray during manipulation thereof for its insertion into a bag. In some i11- stances, an end wall such as 3a at the other end of the tray may be considered desirable for its bag wall distending effect and to provide a fairly rigid tray portion against which the mouth end of the bag may be folded and sealed to provide a very neat and attractive substantially rectangular package. In other instances, the tray may be employed without the second end wall 3a and the bag mouth merely collapsed on itself and sealed closed in any suitable manner.

The divider 5 serves to hold the partitions 4 in upstanding right angular relation to the bottom as shown in Figure 1 and the partitions 4 similarly serve to hold the divider 5 in its illustrated upstanding right angular relation to the bottom panel 1.

The form and number of projections or ears 13 may be varied from that shown, and if desired, additional projections may be provided at the ends of the openings '12 by providing inwardly projecting U-shaped slits as Prenfed on.` 21, sA

indicated at 18 in Figure 2 in the ends of the partition panels so that when the partitions are folded out of the bottom panel, the desired additional end projections would remain in the resulting bottom opening to cooperate with the 'projectionsfl for supporting merchandise. For most purposes,- the arrangement shown, i. e., one pair of mutually opposed projections 13 on each side of the divider 5 is adequate.

In the set-up tray as shown in Figure 1, the narrow bottom portions indicated at 1a which traverse the endsof the openings 12, are reinforced by the narrow npstanding side walls or anges 2 which impart substan tial rigidity to the tray. The side walls or ilanges 2 may be made as high or deep as may be `desired to strengthen the trayV and to securely position articles in the cells of the tray. For example, said side walls may be made about one-half the depth of the end wall and of the partitions 4 and divider 5, and such deepened side walls would increase the rigidity of the tray and provide more positive merchandise retention while still permitting visual inspection of a large portion of each article packaged in the tray. The divider 5 and the partitions 4 also impart a substantial measure of rigidity to the tray in its entirety and in this instance are shown as being of approximately like depth although this rela- :il

tionship is not essential.

Various modifications may be made while retaining the principlesV of the desired invention.

We claim:

l. A paperboard, cell forming packaging tray comprising a generally rectangular bottom wall, side walls extending upwardly from said bottom wall, an end wall extending upwardly from one end of said bottom Wall, a partition extending upwardly from said bottom wall in parallel relation to said end wall and having its ends spaced from the side edges of said bottom wall, and a divider extending transversely of said partition intermediate the ends of said partition to divide the space on opposite sides of the divider into cells for receiving merchandise, said partition and divider constituting merchandise separating elements and at least one .thereof having a slit for receiving a portion of the other for interlocking said separating elements in operative relation to each other, said partition having a bottom edge foldably connected to said bottom wall and being cut out of said bottom wall whereby an opening is left in said bottom wall under each of the cells on one side of said partition, said partition having its top and bottom edges respectively provided with opposed like recesses on each side of said divider, each recess having a depthisubstantially one third the height of the partition, said opposed recesses each being located medially in said partition between the divider and the adjacent end of the partition so that when said partition is folded upwardly from said bottom wall a pair of tongues are left projecting into each of the openings on opposite sides of said divider and intermediate said divider and the ends of said partition so as to constitute substantial areas for the support of merchandise packaged in the cells of the tray.

2. A paperboard, cell forming packaging tray according to claim l which includes a plurality of said partitions spaced in parallel relation to each other, and said divider extending transversely of all of said partitions intermediate their ends and beyond the outermost of saidpartitions, the interlocking of said merchandise separating elements causing said merchandise separating ele-` mentsto cooperate with each other to support each other in upstanding relation to said bottom wall of the tray.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 121,947 Broemmelsiek Aug. 13, 1940 812,002 Bisler Feb. 6, 1906 2,587,706 Deline Mar. 4, 1952 2,670,123 ,Frankenstein Feb. 23, 1954 2,696,341 Gilbert Dec. 7, 1954 2,723,796 Malmgren Nov. l5, 1955 

